Saturday, November 26, 2022

Preview: Michigan vs. Ohio State Notes and Prediction

 

ROSTER NOTES

  • Ohio State players recruited by Michigan are too numerous to list. A huge chunk of the Buckeyes' roster was targeted by Michigan.
  • Ohio State players from the State of Michigan include: S Cameron Martinez (Muskegon), LS Bradley Robinson (Troy Athens), RB Cayden Saunders (Northville), WR Kai Saunders (Northville), OT Grant Toutant (Warren De La Salle)

LAST TIME THEY PLAYED...

  • On November 27, 2021, Michigan beat Ohio State 42-27 at Michigan Stadium
  • Michigan established a 59-51-6 lead in the rivalry
  • Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud completed 34/49 passes for 394 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions
  • RB Hassan Haskins ran 28 times for 169 yards and 5 touchdowns
  • RB Blake Corum had 6 carries for 87 yards, including a 55-yarder
  • QB J.J. McCarthy completed his only pass for 31 yards and had 2 carries for 12 yards

PREDICTION

  • Ohio State 35, Michigan 24

20 comments:

  1. Well, happily pretty much everyone's prediction about this game was wrong.

    Michigan got rush production out of Edwards, and J.J. hit some deep shots to receivers. And the defense shut OSU down in the second half.

    So on to the B1G championship game.

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  2. No complaints about McCarthy .He came through big time. And yes, I'm the one who has complained about him since the Maryland game

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    1. LOL. You're gonna have to eat more crow than that. JJ was a rockstar yesterday. I don't know if we win that game with Cade.

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    2. He played good all year. Better than Cade. Like everyone told you.

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    3. "I think he's going to be just as boring as always. What a disappointment all the hype has been. But oh yeah, don't tell me, he has the "higher ceiling" and what not. "

      "It's going to be about Blake Corum and CJ Stokes."

      There is your place to eat crow.
      No Corum. None of these receivers are going be drafted. Edwards one handed. Top two GREAT TE's out.
      And JJ outplayed Mr Heisman, on the road, against the best OSU team in years.
      When Henson beat OSU 22 years ago, he had first round WR Terrell and 2-3 other NFL wr and first rounder A-train.
      That OSU team finished 8-4 with Bellisari as the QB.

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    4. "LankNovember 27, 2022 at 10:56 AM

      He played good all year. Better than Cade. Like everyone told you."

      This is why exchanging comments with you is useless. You can't acknowledge what is really happening. It's all "rah rah Michgian" with you.

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    6. the whole 1st half my prediction was right.
      And never once this season have I said JJ McCarthy will never play better. You made that up if you think I did.

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    7. "the whole 1st half my prediction was right."
      JJ threw for 240 yards in the first half and kept UM in the game with throwing and running.
      Try again, pops

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    8. So tell me, you really think JJ McCarthy played good all year up until yesterday? Let's just start there. And I'll decide if I want to continue with you.

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    9. Yes - JJ played good all year.

      His worst game statistically was Illinois but his WRs missed some easy opportunities. It wasn't far off a very good day. That was THE ONLY game of the entire year where he rated as a below average game (<50) according to ESPN's adjusted QBR metric and it was barely under (48).

      https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17653521/how-total-qbr-calculated-explain-our-improved-qb-rating

      Last year Cade McNamara had 4 games under QBR 60. This year JJ McCarthy has 2.

      The more conventional passer rating stat tells a similar story.

      JJ has had some down games (Ill, MSU, Neb) but also some excellent games (Hawaii, Indiana, OSU). The down games were more "average" than bad.

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  3. First win in Columbus since 2000 with a seasoned Henson/A-train/Terrell going against an ok, not great, OSU team
    UM just destroyed the best OSU in years without Corum, Edwards with one hand, and none of these receivers are going to play in the NFL.
    45-23.
    JJ is undefeated against OSU.
    Now where are the haters? Let's hear it.

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    1. The thing is OSU/Knowles did the smart thing - they jammed up the box and said "not like last year" to getting mauled. Good for them, but our coaches had an answer. There wasn't much safety help so one great route from Cornelius Johnson and one great YAC play and bam it's knotted up. Credit for CJ and JJ on those - but then the coaches drew up a couple nice TE passes too.

      They trusted the pass game to do work even with Schoon not at 100%. A lot of our fans would not have.

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  4. Holy crap
    We lost the Time of Possession
    We had penalties
    We didn't take over in rushing until mid 4Q
    We relied on big plays
    We shut down their Receivers, w/o a pass rush
    And we didn't just run, but hit deep passes!

    And still, we won!!! What a game!

    BACK TO BACK, GO BLUE!!!

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    1. LOL Yep. Hell of a win. Go Blue!

      TOP still doesn't matter.
      Donovan Edwards still fell over a blade of grass.
      JJ is still an upgrade over Cade.
      RBs still don't matter.

      Not sure what you mean about penalties. We only lost 30 yards, OSU lost 90. It was clear who the better coached team was. That matters.

      I wouldn't say we shut down their receivers when Harrison and Egbuka both went for over 120 yards -- but with OSU's pass game it's all about containing them not stopping them.

      Our best offensive players are Olu and Zinter - that's who we ran between to break big plays. Our most important is JJ - the kid just made good decisions all day long. Even with a modest completion percentage (50% - overrated stat) he produced 4 TDs with no turnovers. Yes - we can pass the ball just fine - not doing something doesn't mean you're incapable of doing it.

      A lot of told ya so's being handed out from our guys in Columbus yesterday. So fun to watch.

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  5. QB - JJ had himself a day. Decision-making and running ability were huge. He can't throw a perfect ball like Stroud and he didn't complete 75% of his passes like Jake Rudock (on his way to 1 score all game) but there's more to QBin than that.

    RB - doesn't matter.

    WR - Cornelius Johnson certainly didn't play like JAG. Bell was Bell but CJ proved some doubters (including me wrong) on 2 MASSIVE plays.

    TE - Loveland had one hell of a day for a freshman.

    OL - The stars of the team. Kept JJ mostly clean and then imposed their will in the second half. OL depth mattered so much this year with Barnhart, El Hadi, even Persi stepping up during the year.

    RB - Stokes and Edwards stumbled and left some yards on the ground. For a while I though Edwards was a decoy and couldn't carry the ball with his hand - and the cast made me fumble-nervous all game. Blake is a difference maker but OSU was dead-set on stopping the run early - I don't know that he would have made a difference yesterday. No - it was on JJ to make a difference, on the ground and in the air. Of course you have to give credit to Edwards - even he still falls over on a blade of grass LOL - because that speed was impactful yesterday. He looked like A-Train on those two runs -- big ol hole to run through and then just need the open field speed to get to the end zone. He had it. Seemed like he needed to get comfortable playing with the cast but he got there.

    For all the talk about Hassan last year and Blake this year - Michigan matched their 7.2 ypc from 2021 in the end. If there's a better OL in the country I'd love to know who they are.

    Edge - Add McGregor to the list of guys I have to eat crow on. Upshaw had his senior moment. Okie got his sack. Harrell in coverage - not just solid in the run game. It really was a team effort. Underrated factor - Stroud only got 5 yards on the ground.

    DT - Graham and Grant were big contributors alongside our two studs - Smith and Jenkins. That's something special for a couple freshman.

    LB - Barrett played great from what I could tell. So much for "not a LB" and "too small". That's the prototype baby - especially against pass heavy teams like OSU.

    CB - This turned out great with Johnson stepping up huge from the beginning of the year. Between him Green and Turner (who played really well I thought) we ended up with a really strong group.

    Nickel - Sainristil was absolutely HUGE. As he was all year. He got beat multiple times yesterday because of who he was up again but he was a sure tackler all year, solid in coverage, and that MASSIVE pass break up in the end zone on Stover was as big of a play as we had on defense all game.

    Safety - Paige got a gameball from Harbaugh and has arrived big time. Moore is probably our defensive MVP with apologies to Morris and Smith. Moten also is really good. Depth matters here as we needed all 3.

    K - Money missed but I thought it was the right decision to try to kick.

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    1. Do you have a job? How in the world can you keep writing all these long comments?

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    2. LOL. You'd be surprised.

      I'm just a passionate fan who types fast.

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  6. This is the probably the greatest regular season win in the history of Michigan.
    Other notables:
    1969 OSU win (we went on to lose the rose bowl to usc)
    1997 PSU and OSU
    Last year.

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    1. I wasn't alive for 69 but was there for every minute of 97. For my money 2021 OSU was the most satisfying win I've experienced because of the years of abuse by OSU and winning at home like we did was damn special.

      Yesterday was awesome - to win in the shoe like that with Corum out was more impressive. But in terms of getting the monkey off our backs of winning against our rival -- last year cannot be beat emotionally.

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